USNS Harvey Milk completes maiden voyage to San Francisco

March 29 (UPI) -- The U.S. Navy ship named after gay rights icon Harvey Milk made its first voyage through the Golden Gate Bridge and docked in San Francisco Thursday.

The USNS Harvey Milk is the first Navy ship to be named after an openly gay person. It is an oiler ship that resupplies Navy ships at sea with diesel fuel, lubricating oil and jet fuel, as well as some provisions.

Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus in 2016 told Congress of his plan to name the John Lewis-class oilers after prominent civil rights leaders, with this particular ship to be named after Milk, who was a gay rights activist.

Milk served as a lieutenant in the Navy during the Korean War aboard USS Kittiwake. His career ended with an other-than-honorable discharge, and he was forced to resign rather than face a court martial because of his homosexuality.

Milk became the first openly gay person elected to public office in the country when he won a San Francisco supervisor seat in 1977. He and Mayor George Moscone were shot and killed in 1978 by a disgruntled former supervisor who was upset that Moscone did not reappoint him after he resigned.

"To have that ship visit San Francisco on its very first port visit -- not only its first port visit to San Francisco, but its first port visit ever to be San Francisco, is so significant," said U.S. Navy Media Officer Brian O'Rourke. "This was Harvey's chosen city; very important to him. To have this ship come to San Francisco is a testament to his legacy."

San Francisco supervisor Bevan Dufty, who served in what was Milk's former board seat, toured the ship Thursday. He said, "It's beautiful that it is here ... This being the first Navy ship being named after someone who wasn't honorably discharged, it's poetic."

An LGBTQ San Diego advisory group first called for a Navy ship to be named after Milk in 2012. The ship was officially named at a ceremony in San Francisco in 2016 prior to its construction.

It was christened and launched from San Diego Bay in November 2021.

Officials will hold a ceremony to honor the ship and its namesake on Friday. There also will be a National Vietnam War Veterans Day awards presentation for Bay Area veterans that afternoon.